when an idea about a hack comes to my mind, it most often starts with a skill list and the playbooks I want in the game.
What I’d like to do: write a WIP-playbook that I can update and tinker with while playtesting
What I need to do that: completely blank character and crew sheets to fill in new attributes, actions, heritages and so on. In this case the less letters on the sheet the better.
I mean it should actually be empty but have the option to fill in the words … so a fillable pdf.
Does that make sense and more important does that exist … ooorrr does anybody have the skills to do that?
PS.: I already tried with a trial version of … what was it’s name? Nitro? … and it was, well, let’s say it had potential, but I’m sure there are talented and skillful Blades - hackers here who already did that or are more able than I am.
I can recommend either checking out roll20.net’s blades in the dark character sheet, which is immeasurably helpful for hacking and comes blank or form fillable (it’s really a wonder, do check it out) or you can buy the BitD pdf through drivethrurpg, and the attached sheets pdf has a blank crew and playbook sheet (or at least mine did when I bought it).
Other contributors to the community have noted that an affinity with indesign and analogous programs may be beneficial.
I guess I’m too dumb to access the sheets on roll20. I created a new game and chose the blades sheets in the drop down menu. After that I couldn’t find them anywhere.
However, are any of those really completely empty so that I can exchange skill and attribute names?
I’m very interested in this, but what skills and how much money am I gonna need?
If I understood you correctly, I’ll need a Pro account for Roll20 (~$8/month), right?
What about Github? Do I need a Pro account, too?
More importantly: What skills do I need? I’m reasonably proficient with Office (Excel, Word etc.) and have done registry edits with instructions from forums, but that’s about the extent of my computer skills. The Github stuff looks very intimidating.
(I’d hate to sign up to all this stuff only to find I can’t make heads or tails of it and am unable to change a single attribute.)
It’s a pity the editable source files (that’d be Acrobat or InDesign, right?) are not available for sale. Cool kickstarter perk, though.
Yes, you’ll need a roll20 pro acount for using custom sheets. Pricing here is 9.99$/month or 99.99$/year.
Github don’t need a pro account the free one will do to download the files and even to start your own project/fork for your customized sheets.
Skill is tricky: If you just want to change names and leave the original sheets as-is, this is “easy” (if you know what to change and the instructions help with that). If you want something more like changing the layout or adding a complete new layout this is a steep learning curve. HTML, css, sass, Java Script, npm are some of the languages you have to learn… well, not all of it but some to make it.
That may be a bit too much if I understood your current skill set right.
But: Maybe this is a good opportunity for a progamming challenge?
Thank you for your detailed answer! As I need to print the sheets (from 2K screenshots), too, the disadvantages and challenges of a Roll20 approach are just too much.
I think I can make an informed decision to … recreate or whip up homebrew sheets in Microsoft Word.
My main motivation is to change the attribute / action names, by the way, because my players won’t (initially) understand most of them. Not a problem in a campaign, but I’m aiming for several one-shots when our regular game can’t be scheduled. I’m just not up for explaining “consort” or “prowess” all evening.
(I’d snap up a German version in a heartbeat, but even if that does ever happen, it’ll be a while, I suspect.)
I’d also like to note that I personally like the extra flavor – “Prowl” is way more badass than “Sneak” or “Move Silently” – and I totally dig the baked-in approach, emotionally or methodologically etc., of “Wreck” etc. I’ll probably keep “Skirmish” and “Finesse” for that reason, but the rest will have to go in the name of playability.
Nitro? … and it was, well, let’s say it had potential, but I’m sure there are talented and skillful Blades - hackers here who already did that or are more able than I am. 
